Warren Gatland has been forced to revise his opinion of Chris Robshaw, the
England captain, after his barnstorming display against the All Blacks.

Three weeks ago, the Lions head coach played down the prospects of the Harlequins flanker making the final cut for the 36-man squad when he spoke of the need to take a specialist openside to Australia to cope with the Wallaby breakaways David Pocock and Michael Hooper.

“England brought a violent attitude to the breakdown against New Zealand which we’ve not seen before and Chris was definitely part of that,” said Gatland, who will reserve judgment on his choice of captain until after the completion of the 2013 Six Nations. “There was an aggression there, an intensity. Chris had a huge impact on that.”

It was also acknowledged that Jonny Wilkinson, the former England fly-half, was still an option, even though the Toulon playmaker has retired from international rugby.

“Warren has stated that everyone is under consideration and with Toulon going so well they’ll be in the Heineken Cup knockout stages and those are the sort of games you need to be appearing in if you’re not playing international rugby,” Rob Howley, the Lions attack coach, said.

Whatever decisions Gatland makes will be shaped by quality, not nationality.